Since the 1970s, the Xikrin people have faced large infrastructure projects in the Middle Xingu. The Association monitors and co-executes the compensation programs of the Belo Monte dam, which changed the flow of the Bacajá River.
Since the 1970s, the Xikrin people and their relatives have faced large infrastructure projects in the Middle Xingu, such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway (BR-230) and the Kararaô Project, which became the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. The Association itself was founded in 2018 to defend the Xikrin people from the impacts of these projects.
The Xikrin say that “the Xingu River holds the Bacajá River”: when the Xingu rises, the Bacajá is full; when it falls, the Bacajá drops with it. In the reduced-flow stretch of the Xingu, floods fell from 80 to 9 days a year, and extreme droughts rose from 45 to 104 days (Revista Pesquisa FAPESP).
Because of these impacts, the communities are served by compensation and mitigation measures under the Belo Monte Basic Environmental Plan (PBA), the responsibility of the company Norte Energia, in culture, territorial management, community organization, education, health and productive activities. Berê has seven years of experience in this field and works to lead the decisions: actions that require traditional knowledge are carried out with the PBA-CI (Indigenous Component) executing company, with the Association as co-executor and proponent.
A project proposed and led by the Association: restoration with agroforestry systems, value chains for cacao, Brazil nuts, babassu and menire handicrafts, Xikrin fire brigades and Environmental Agents, and care for the villages’ water.
About the project Restaura Amazônia
Building the Ngàb, the warriors’ house, the political space where each village makes its decisions and learns from the Kubengêt.
About the project Warriors’ House
Since 2018, the Association has supported the rituals of the Xikrin calendar, which pass knowledge from one generation to the next.
About the project Traditional Rituals